How long did your dd practice before pitching in a game?

7YO, two months of 3x a week practices with weekly pitching lessons. Pitched one inning with 2 strikeouts and 1 hit batter. My DDs situation may have been unusual because during the prior 6 months she liked to pitch a tennis ball to me just for the pure fun of it. This activity help her get use to the pitching motion before pitching a softball.

The bottom line is don't wait until she is proficient at pitching before letting her get some circle time. Pitchers need to pitch in real games to get better. It's a necessary evil to pitch in games without being 100% comfortable. Plus after a few months of the same drills they want to pitch to live batters.

Lisa Fernandez tells the great story how she walked 18 girls her first outing. Her goal the next game was to only walk 17 girls, etc. The growth in six months is fast and most players have decent control if they take weekly lessons and practice regularly. Normally the pitchers that struggle have not put in the time to gain control and speed to be effective. You can't dabble in pitching, you either give it 100% or walk away from that position. It's just too difficult to be consistent without regular, focused, and dedicated pitching practices.

Good luck to you!

DD started seeing a pitching instructor prior to her first year at 10U on a B level Rec team. The coaches that year only let their daughters pitch. DD didn't get in the circle until the following season under a different coach, who's DD wasn't a pitcher. It's sad, but often at this level you either need to get involved in coaching or pray that you get on a team who's coaches daughters dont pitch.

Mine pitched in first rec game - (Fall Ball) when she was 9 - right after the coach asked "who wantst to pitch".
She had never thrown a pitch before but had watched older girls. She was mostly close to the plate and didnt hit anyone - Looking back machanics were not great and no speed but adiquit for 10U rec.

We asked her after the first game how did you learn to pitch? She said "I wanted too be the pitcher" - (I wish we could translate that too other endevors.)

After that season we started lessons.

She started pitching in travel the summer after.

Since she is 8 is there any coach/machine backup? Are there inning run limits?

If either of those exist I would be lobbing the coach for some circle time. At least an inning so she gets a feel for the whole thing. It will probably make her practice better and harder.

We had those rules when DD played 8U and every player on the Team saw some time in the circle.

quincy said:

Since she is 8 is there any coach/machine backup? Are there inning run limits?

If either of those exist I would be lobbing the coach for some circle time. At least an inning so she gets a feel for the whole thing. It will probably make her practice better and harder.

We had those rules when DD played 8U and every player on the Team saw some time in the circle.

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My 8 year old plays 8U rec and we had modified coach pitch where the coach would come in after they threw 3 balls and take over the strike count, honestly, I would prefer to just walk the batter than let them bomb it off the coach, my daughter will strike out 3 before she walks 4. We also have a 5 run limit, but that is rarely a problem because they use a 28 foot pitching rubber which I feel is quite unfair to the batter, rarely are there many hits off the kids pitching if they have any velocity at all.

If you do the math and the pitcher steps out and releases from 25' then a 40 mph ball crosses the plate in .409 seconds... or only slightly LESS reaction time than a MLB player facing a 100 mph fastball (for an average height pitcher). It drive me nuts when I watch 6U coach pitch coaches stand so close... and wonder why the girls don't hit it... you need a little time!

OK rant over.

I don't like the kid/coach, but it is the reality, I would rather a walk than a bomb off the coach

Cpl mths and we let her throw in rec games. 10u. A season of rec, 10-12 games, before she pitched in TB game.

It sounds like most of your rec leagues must be a complete different level than ours was. Our story was similar to Cobb of Fury. At practice in 10U the coach said does anyone want to try to pitch? and she pitched in the next game. Had only been playing softball for about 3 weeks. Really had no idea what she was doing but became one of 3 pitchers for rest of season and started lessons at end of season.

CoachChristine said:

Dd8 just started lessons and we are a long way off from pitching in games. Her TB team already has five-ish pitchers. So there's no pressure or deadline. I was just curious how long your dd trained and practiced before taking the mound in a game.

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2 weeks, but it was in rec and she was 7 years old.

If she on a TB with 5-ish pitchers she will never pitch in a game even if she is progressing and ready if at least 2 of them are already proficient (and they are getting even more proficient since they ARE getting circle time). If she wants to be a pitcher it will have to either start in rec or on a different team.

4 months of practice starting in October at age 9, started pitching in spring Rec League games (age 10), got better through rec. Went into All Stars and continued to improve. Started back with summer travel ball and was the #3 pitcher. The #1 pitcher got hurt so it allowed the #2 and my DD to get a lot more pitching time. By mid summer we saw her speed increasing and getting much better at hitting her spots. By late summer she had 3 pitches and good success on the mound. By no means was she the best pitcher out there but for a girl who started in October and was having good success in Travel Ball by the end of August. Every girl is different, practice is a much and making sure you are learning the right stuff. We have only been to 5 pitching lessons all year because Hillhouse only comes to our state about 7 times a year. He does a good job at trying to educate me as well as my daughter. We try to stick to what he teaches. I really believe by sticking with what truly works (what Bill teaches in our case), constant practice (3-4 times a week), and preparing her mentally along the way, has allowed her to pass up some girls that have been pitching for a year longer. The mental side has been huge and I really believe working with her on that end is just as important.

josh said:

I don't like the kid/coach, but it is the reality, I would rather a walk than a bomb off the coach

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I feel the opposite. I love the kid/coach pitch because it lets the girls learn to pitch without games turning into walk fests. It gives the fielders a chance to play and get experience instead of standing around while kids walk, and it gives the offense a chance to practice baserunning. Our league is 10U and the coach comes in after ball 4 with the strikes carrying over. With the coach pitch, coaches are much more willing to let the lesser pitchers pitch.

On my daughter's previous team in the spring, we played some games under the Babe Ruth Xtreme rules, where there was no coach pitch. We had one game where we scored 9 runs without hitting a fair ball. The only fielders on the other team who touched the ball besides the pitcher and catcher were the shortstop and thirdbaseman because of steals. It was totally ridiculous.